As I mentioned in the previous post, I am suffering from burnout. But God is gracious and He heard my cries for help, or perhaps it was my shouts of anger?

Anyway, in my Quiet Time this morning I was truly challenged by the verse from 1 Corinthians 6:20 “Therefore honour God with your body”. I was convicted that my behaviour was not honouring God at the moment and my behaviour with the children is not what I would wish for them to have in a mother.

So I prayed for forgiveness and asked God for his help. He led me to to read ebook entitled:Honoring the Rhythm of Rest by Danielle Evans. It is an easy read (it took me about 30 minutes with some reflection time) but very inspiring.

So based on her book and some advice from a Titus 2 woman in my life I am implementing My 5 Steps to Recovery from Burnout into my life.

Abiding with God. Ensuring that I spend time with God, preferably at the start of the day- handing over the day to Him and inviting Him into my life. This I struggle with, as J is once again not sleeping well, climbing into my bed during the night and I’m also not getting much sleep (see point No 4) and so I am tired when I start the day.

Plan my day. Put in my priorities and what I have to do, including some time to exercise,a daily pause and a weekly moment(See Danielle’s book). I am able to plan my day, it is the way that I manage my life, but ensuring that everything gets done is a challenge. The exercise is the one that tends to fall by the way side at the moment.

Be disciplined in what I’m doing– make sure that I say no to things (activities that I or the kids are doing, how much tv or Facebook time I do etc) and that when I do things (emails, hobbies etc) that they don’t claim an excessive amount of time. I am driving A mad at the moment as I am watching 1-2 hours of tv every evening while I’m doing something else (ironing, filing etc), then I switch off, hang up a load of waashing, and then come to bed and read on my iPad (emails, Facebook or iBook) but inevitably it is midnight before I lie down to sleep.

Get enough sleep and rest. God ordained rest for us and he modelled it beautifully in Genesis and in the Gospels, I need to mimic Him. Having sufficient sleep also allows me to cope with the day- gives me energy and focus. I have blogged about some of the effects that the lack of sufficient sleep has on my life (Harsh Words and Sabotage)

Eat healthily. Stay away from the wine, too much sugar, and caffeine. That way I will have the energy and vitality to tackle this time.

So, this is how I am working on my recovery.

Hopefully these 5 Steps will also become habits that I will keep doing so I have the focus and energy to live my life for His Glory, and keep burnout from happening again.

Matthew 11:28-30(MSG)

28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

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About Cheryl

I am a child of God, a wife and a mother of 4 children.
Some days are good. Some days are frustrating. Some days are just plain insane.
In between the mayhem, I loved to go for walks with our mutt, potter in the garden and enjoy the beauty that surrounded us. That all changed in August 2012 when we waved goodbye to our mutt and garden, our eldest at Uni in Gloucester and moved to Tokyo for 4 months. And yes- we are still here...